Comparison of the vitamin c content of local oranges and the grafted oranges in Bungokho sub county Mbale district.

Abstract

Vitamin C is an organic compound that is made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Vitamin C is also called ascorbic acids, but it includes all compounds showing biological activity, such as oxidized ester, and synthetic forms. Vitamin C can be obtained from the following sources; oranges, tomatoes, strawberries, and sweet peppers etc. The fruits are thus of medical importance and their acidity can be employed in several activities. (Ojukwu,2017). Vitamin C is important in the cellular break down of food for the maintenance of oxidation-reduction balance. Vitamin C is an essential nutrient that must be obtained through the diet in adequate amounts to prevent hypovitaminosis C, i.e. deficiency of vitamin C in the body which leads to a potentially fatal deficiency disease scurvy. Deficiency of ascorbic acid in the body, causes a number of deficiencies in the body such as scurvy, vision loss, weak immunity, being tired and cranky, dry and wrinkled skin, weight gain, bleeding gums, nose bleed, bruises, and slow wound healing and so on. Due to the fact that the citrus content of grafted oranges and local oranges are different. The study there for helped us to determine and compare the vitamin C content of grafted oranges and local oranges in Bungokho sub county mbale district. The study was found out to be of importance to researchers in the future who will study grafting and its effects on fruit quality and citrus content, which will give farmers an insight to make good choice of oranges. The method of the study was majorly experimentation. About 20 oranges were collected from different trees of local oranges, and grafted oranges. Each group of oranges was used to provide the juice for titration with iodine solution. The ascorbic acid content of local oranges and grafted oranges was determined by iodine titration, and the kind of orange fruits with more ascorbic acid was determined. Data presentation was in form of tables, pie charts and graphs while data analysis was by independent samples t test.